THANK YOU, 5: The greatest and most accomplished quarterback in Eagles history, Donovan McNabb, has been traded to Washington.
There will be time to evaluate the merits of the trade, and only the Eagles coaches truly know whether Kevin Kolb is ready for the responsibility which is in front of him. Right now, I'm just grateful for what McNabb did for this team and this city: five trips to the NFC Championship game and one Super Bowl, seven playoff trips in a decade, and just thrilling games and highlights. The broken ankle game against Arizona. The playoff win in Chicago. 4th and 26.
Back in August, when I received that text from ESPN alerting me about the Vick signing ten minutes before my C-SPAN debut, well, you know what I said by now: Donovan McNabb is my quarterback -- which, admittedly, wasn't of interest to more than a few dozen folks at a political gathering in Pittsburgh. But McNabb earned that level of loyalty for me -- like Iverson, Barkley, Schmidt, Kruk and Erving before him, his combination of excellence and passion created a special connection with the fans, one reinforced every time McNabb pointed two fingers to the heavens coming out of the tunnel, two fingers expressing a hope that a win would come that day.
Every season with Donovan McNabb began with that hope; no game seemed unwinnable. That talent, that professionalism, that swagger, that heart ... we had one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for eleven years, and I don't know that he ever received the love from this town that he deserved. I'm sorry he's gone, and will cheer him upon his return.
added: Michael Wilbon welcomes his friend to DC.
Seconded. Leaving aside what the Eagles got from the Redskins, the thing that bothers me most about this trade is that I won't really be able to root for McNabb again. I was hoping he'd go to the Raiders or Bills or some AFC team, when I could cheer him from afar but for that one game every four years they played the Eagles.
ReplyDeleteNow all the Redskins need are Orlando Pace and Earl Campbell, and they'll really be ready to compete. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteI'll always remember McNabb for that Monday Night game against Dallas where he scrambled for ten seconds, ducked a sack, and launched a perfect long bomb. Someone with better Google-fu than I can find it. But the Eagles got the better of this trade: neither team is Super Bowl-ready right now, and McNabb won't be viable by the time either rebuilds.
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ReplyDeleteESPN's saying the Eagles wouldn't trade him to a place where he didn't want to go. I think that's a classy move, even if it means we'll have to face him in division games (assuming he's healthy). If the worst Eagles fans can say about McNabb is he couldn't win a Superbowl against Brady and Belichick (throwing over 300 yards in the process and playing to the point of complete physical exhaustion), maybe we need to remember what the 90s were like for Eagles fans -- television blackouts and Ty Detmer at QB.
ReplyDeletePreliminarily, I think it's the right move. You have a QB of the future who's played well when given the chance in Kolb, and he can grow as a player with young skill players like McCoy, Jackson, and Maclin. But McNabb's always been a class act, and however much we want and need that Superbowl, we shouldn't have been so hard on Donovan just because he didn't get us one.
At least in Washington he won't have to worry about throwing up during the Super Bowl again.
ReplyDeleteI'm think "again" is an overstatement as I'm fairly sure he didn't throw up the first time. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/89501712.html
ReplyDeleteI'll probably post about this separately, but that's the "known unknown" of all this: only Reid and the coaching staff really know what Kevin Kolb can do, and whether his next six years are more promising than McNabb's final 3-4.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The Eagles are now 25 or under at QB, RB, TE and both WRs. Let them grow together and see what happens. Something tells me that McNabb the Redskin is going to turn out more like Bruce Smith, Jason Taylor, etc. (i.e. injured and/or ineffective) than Sonny Jurgensen (Pro Bowls, Hall of Fame).
ReplyDeleteI'm just pleased he didn't go to the Rams, because now they'll blow the #1 pick on a QB, and the Lions get Suh.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of whether Kolb=Brady, let's hope McNabb=Bledsoe. Not that I won't be rooting for him to succeed in non-Eagles games.
ReplyDeleteHe will be missed. I hope he's truly healed, because he's going to need to scramble like Fran Tarkington behind that Redskins line. MCNabb was a great QB in Philadelphia and a class act. This trade, combined with letting Dawk go to Denver shoudl convince anyone who needed convincing that Eagles management is bottom line oriented, unsentimental and, at theend of the day, happy to be in playoff contention every yeat without ever really wanting to load up for a last chance before needing to truly rebuild.
ReplyDeleteThis thing called "quarterback" of which you speak, what exactly is it?
ReplyDelete(Sorry. I've lived in Detroit my whole life.)
I also credit the Eagles for honoring McNabb's wishes, even though it meant trading him within the division. The move could blow up in the Eagles' faces, but it was pretty classy not to send him to Oakland or Buffalo.
ReplyDeleteI don't think McNabb is a Hall of Famer, but I never understood all the criticism he received. So his teams lost a bunch of conference championship games. Shouldn't he be credited for getting the Eagles to all those conference championship games in the first place? Yeah, the Eagles never won a Super Bowl during his tenure. I don't recall them winning a bunch of Super Bowls - or even competing for very many - before he got there.
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